H.Ex.Sh.
Rameshwar Thakur the Hon'ble Governor of Orissa inaugurating
first National daughters' day - NANDINI DIWAS

9th
of June is
hereby notified as national 'Daughters day' (NANDINI
DIWAS). 'Nandini' & 'Diwas' are Sanskrit words which
mean 'Daughter' & 'Day' respectively. This day commemorates
the launch of project 'NANDINI' & also the birth anniversary
of the legendary late Smt. Nandini Satpathy.

The
inauguration took place at Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar,
Orissa. The venue witnessed a full house presence of highly
distinguished & respected people of Orissa as well as
other parts of India.

What
is project 'Nandini'

Project
'Nandini is a social cause project conceptualized by Smt. Nandini
Satpathy Memorial Trust to bring about a change in the society
by stimulating the brains of individuals with knowledge, which
is out of the text books of schools & collages. Addressing
to subjects which need special attention to improve the basic
life of an individual which leads to the transformation of the
society for the better. And who better than women, cause they
are the creator of the society. Project 'Nandini' is a social
cause movement which will redefine literacy or educated from what
it is currently perceived.

A
full house attendance for the inauguration of first national
daughters’ day NANDINI DIWAS

Smt.
Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust, a charitable social organization
is starting a community of such progressive women of India to
become
agents of social transformation. SNSMT termed this project as
'Nandini' which means 'daughter'. For an effective working pattern
we have divided the project into four aspects of a woman's life.

'Nandini'
is a new born girl child

'Nandini'
is an adolescent girl

'Nandini'
is a young woman

'Nandini'
is a senior citizen

As
a strategy to counter the vulnerable condition of women in India,
the main thrust of the project in year one is on adolescent girls
who, at the threshold of adulthood are victims of early marriages,
pregnancies, child abuse as well as trafficking besides other
ills. Project 'Nandini' seeks to demonstrate that it is not only
opportune to focus on vulnerable adolescent girls caught in the
process of pauperization, it is also crucial to go beyond the
narrow perspective of considering them as" people with needs",
but to look upon them primarily as people whose rights have to
be defended for the well being of the Society. In the first year
we focus on empowering adolescent girls with knowledge, communication
skills, health education, and information on safe mother hood,
family planning and interactive sessions with successful women
achievers. We call this creating Nandinis out of ordinary women.
These Nandinis will serve as role models to the rest of our country
and contribute in creating more nandinis. This project is designed
for the semi urban & rural women of India where the information
passing mechanism is till date (even after 60 years of our independence)
very poor. This project will provide a holistic approach that
seeks to draw out the innate talent in each girl child to become
strong, independent, and self respecting women of substance.

A
girl child is perceived as a burden to be passed on to another
family. Her contribution has remained unacknowledged. The adverse
attitude towards the girl child signals the catarostrophe of serious
demographic imbalance and degeneration of socio-economic conditions.
Unfortunately, the rejection of the unwanted girl begins even
before her birth. Those unfortunate girls who manage to survive
until birth and beyond, find the dice heavily loaded against them.
Girls are denied equal access to food, health care, education,
employment and even simple human dignity.

Her
sacrifice and dedicated services ensure the well-being of the
family, but in return, she receives neglected childhood devoid
of proper education and health care.

Sh.
Suparno Satpathy, Chairman SNSMT speaking on project ‘Nandini’

This
project will be setup in partnership with individuals, organizations
working on social cause, entrepreneurs and Govt. organizations
etc that share a similar Project 'Nandini' does not talk about
the sordid tale of an Indian daughter but relates to the power
of this daughter with the aegis from history to moon. The project
is capturing the minds of imagination and the age of transformation,
that decides the fate of tomorrow.

Project
'Nandini In the first year 2007 -08 will focus on developing a
group of adolescent girls who we call nandinis ,who would be capable
of drawing out their genius, values and skills .Which they will
pass on into the Society after getting back to their own habitat.

What
does project 'Nandini' offer - SNSMT has put together a curriculum
based on multiple intelligences fun based learning and learning
beyond text books. Project Nandini offers a relevant curriculum.
It schedules moral & social development. Makes community betterment
the fundamental part of the curriculum, developing social consciousness,
developing self confident, making winners out of ordinary women
by applying learning based on research & real experiences.
The project also would encourage entrepreneurial qualities to
achieve self sustenance. SNSMT will focus on project programs
such as skill building . These could include vocational programs,
special talent development programs and community participation
programs. These programs must bring in revenue to make it more
self-reliant.

Project
'Nandini' provides a podium to stand up in support of the ban
on pre natal sex determination & ban on abortion of female
feticide in India.

Induction
workshop of project 'Nandini'- 8th & 9th of June`07…

Dr.
Prof. Kumudini Sharma interacting with the participants
at the workshop, in set Dr. Seba Mahapatra

On
8th & 9th of June`07 a workshop was held at Panthanivas,OTDC
Complex Bhubaneswar ( only for the invited delegations from
all over India) about 150 adolescent girls had participated
in the work shop. Our educators Dr. Prof.Kumudini Sharma
Maj. Anil Passi,Dr. Seba Mahapatra,Shri. Hari Prashad Pattanayak
& Dr. P.Yashodhara conducted the workshop. Subjects
earmarked for the project were tackled by our super specialty
educators.

On
the 9th of June`07 at 6 PM venue Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar,
Orissa project 'Nandini' was formally launched and the first national
'Daughters day' ( NANDINI DIWAS ) was inaugurated. It followed
with the celebration for 'NANDINI DIWAS' with live performance
by the musical maestro Ms. Penaz Masani.

Five
visually challenged adolescent girls who also participated
in the project 'Nandini' workshop were presented with a
token of appreciation by H.Ex.Sh. Rameshwar Thakur the hon'ble
Governor of Orissa.

Smt. Nandini Satpathy Memorial Trust is very thankful to all who
supported and in particular thankful to Dr. Manmohan Singh the Hon'ble
Prime Minister of India for his kind words, support & encouragement
for national daughters day ( NANDINI DIWAS ) & project
'Nandini'.